BEACH EDUCATION INSTRUCTORS REQUIRED 2009-2010

SURF LIFE SAVING Otago
Applicants must be qualified Surf Lifeguards, have excellent communication skills, must have a passion to share their surf safety knowledge and be professional.
Applications are available by contacting:
Surf Life Saving Otago, phone 03-474-6361 or otagosurf@sportotago.co.nz
Applications close: October 20, 2009.

The end of September

A few shots from my wee trip a few weeks back.

DAM YOU NOT - Christchurch - show your strength

How this affects surfing: River sediment from the mouth of the Hurunui feeds the beach at Gore Bay.
Please join us in a public demonstration of our concern at the Bridge of Remembrance on Cashel St, Christchurch at 12.15pm 16th October.

We will walk alongside the Avon to Victoria Square. Your support will help us convey to the authorities, here and in Wellington, the importance of this issue to the people of Canterbury.

Russel Norman from Greens and Nukuroa Tirikatene-Nash are going to speak at the destination of Victoria Square.

JOIN THE MARCH. YES WE NEED YOU!

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW The Hurunui Water Project (HWP) plans to build a 75-metre high dam in the south branch of the Hurunui River, creating a 7km-long lake, with about 525ha of the Hurunui's pristine south branch being inundated, papers filed with Environment Canterbury show.

Environmentalists are outraged, especially because of a proposed water-conservation order for the Hurunui River. Green Party co-leader Russel Norman said the project "will effectively privatise what is a public resource, which is a wild river, and using the water to carry out a huge dairy conversion in Canterbury".

More reading on the battle of the Hurunui River

More from www.dambusters.co.nz website

Application for water conservation order on Hurunui

Green party call for submissions

City beaches still polluted

Dunedin City Council have been aware for a long time the inefficiency of the old sewerage pipes to cope with days of increased volume run-off from the stormwater pipes. Some downfalls cause flooding in areas of south Dunedin, and around Queens high school, where raw sewage is lying in the streetsw mixed with the overflowed stormwater from drains.
So I am not suprised at all to see this report in the ODT today.
Councils top priorities of city maintenance are roads, sewage, stormwater, and rubbish. Of late there have been many other empire building activities gaining the ratepayers dollars, sucking the cash away from the much needed upgrading of these core services.
DCC Storm and wastewater info

UPDATE 15th october 2009
from the ODT

Dairy farms first, DCC next read more here

"An admission they are polluting is a major first step."
"The city has extremely old stormwater drains."
"day is coming where rainwater has to stop mixing with poos".

The city council had a five-year short-term consent for discharges to enable it to come up with a new strategy, but it did not yet have consents for stormwater discharges. Cr Gretchen Robertson said the city council had three years left to come up with a "grand scheme" on how to improve the situation.

Finches in the house

Was working in my studio this afternoon, when I spotted a pair of House Finches playing on my driveway. By the time I whipped out my camera and opened the window, they suspected they were up for a photo session, and had positioned themselves perfectly on some trees even closer.

2010 SISA Calandar Released

From South Island Surfing Associations website www.sisa.co.nz

Please Click Here to download the 2009 / 2010 SISA Contest Calandar.
Wekastitch Cape Classic entry forms out now too. Entry Forms Here

The first event of the 2009/ 2010 South Island Circuit is set to kick off at Labour Weekend in Westport
The Weka Stitch Cape Classic is always a challenging and exciting event.
Hema and the boys at Buller Boardriders have been working hard to host another great Cape Classic.

$2000 prize for the Open. Weka Stitch are the main sponsor again so there'll be those great tents on the beach again to provide plenty of shelter for spectators. Bring the family !

~ from SISA website

St Kilda Dunes Fixed

Work on the Tahuna Outfall extension Pipe involved the destruction of a section of the sand dunes along St Kilda at John Wilson Drive. (below) a road was built across the face of the dunes to allow easy transport of machinery and pipe laden trucks.

Now that the Outfall Pipe Operation has finished, the Affected Sand dune area has been restored. (pic above)

Council closes scenic Ocean Drive again

Otago Daily Times By David Loughrey on Wed, 7 Oct 2009

John Wilson Ocean Dr was closed by the Dunedin City Council again last night, and will not reopen until a final decision is made on how to make the area safer. Dunedin Mayor Peter Chin said yesterday the closure was in the interests of public safety, and at the request of Dunedin-Clutha police area commander Inspector Dave Campbell, and "other experts who have advised council as to the risks in leaving Lawyers Head unprotected". The road was closed in 2006 for the construction of the Tahuna outfall, and deaths in the area ceased. Last month, the council decided to open the road on weekdays, during daylight hours, but leave it closed at weekends.

Resource consent for a security fence at Lawyers Head was to be sought, while use of the area was monitored for three months.

On September 24, police recovered a body from the area, a death that was referred to the coroner. Insp Campbell said at the time police would speak to the council about any issues arising from their investigation.

Mr Chin said: "The Dunedin City Council is currently exploring ways in which to secure the headland, and the gates will remain closed to all vehicle access until a suitable, acceptable solution is arrived at."

Yesterday I drove up John Wilson Drive for the first time in over three years.

Photo above: from the top of the cliff. Photo Below, the last shot I took of the same view three years ago before the drive was closed. ( note the erosion in the dunes.)

I was driving up there last week when I had to pull over before I got to the gates to let an ambulance fly past, then another, and 6 police cars, a firetruck.. then the search and rescue truck. Unfortunately a 46 year old man decided to end his life by jumping off Lawyers Head.

Suicide rates from jumping off Lawyers head had ceased completely since the drive was closed three years ago. This new suicide/death put the council back into reconsider mode about opening the drive to cars. My opinions below with no offence intended to the recently deceased man or previous deaths off the head in the last decades.

Whats the correlation between car access and deaths? can a jumper not just walk around the fences? too much effort to walk? or do they think the stigma of jumping off lawyers is more of legacy for their last act?

Obviously those Dunedinites whom have committed suicide in the last three years have found alternative ways of finishing their lives, than jumping off Lawyers head.

Surely the overall suicide rate has not lowered in Dunedin due to Lawyers head being inaccesable to cars? I'd be interested to know the statistics.

How can making the area 'safer' stop future deaths?

What are your thoughts?

Update 9th October 2009

Balancing wants article ODT Thu, 16 Apr 2009

6 October 2009 Statement from Mayor of Dunedin Peter Chin.

I have today instructed the Chief Executive of the Dunedin City Council, Jim Harland, to close the gates on John Wilson Ocean Drive until further notice.

I am doing this in the interests of public safety and at the request of the District Police Commander, Inspector Dave Campbell, and other experts who have advised Council as to the risks involved in leaving Lawyers Head unprotected.

The Dunedin City Council is currently exploring ways in which to secure the headland and the gates will remain closed to all vehicle access until a suitable, acceptable solution is arrived at.

NZ Surf breaks feature on Save the Waves list

Save the Waves have listed many New Zealand surfbreaks with the intention of helping to create World Surfing Reserves (WSR) across the globe.
This includes the New Zealand waves that were listed in Surfbreak Protection Society's and SEA's (Surfers Environmental Advocates) submissions to the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement review in 2008.
I submitted a select handful of Dunedin Surf Breaks for inclusion with the NZ Coastal Policy Statement see this post, although they were labeled as Dunedin.

Using Google Earth®, Save the Waves has constructed a map of all the nominated WSR waves worldwide. Attached is the plugin for Google Earth and below the instructions for how to use it. If you don't have Google Earth yet, you can download it from http://earth.google.com/intl/en/download-earth.html Download

To view the list and take a birds eye view of these surfbreaks you first need to download Google Earth®. Click here

Then download the Save the Waves WSR plug in file. Click here

When you have downloaded the WSR file follow the instruction below.

-Open Google Earth

-Load the "Nominated_World_Surfing_Reserves.kmz" file and double-click it to open up the "WSR Nominees Folder"

-You should see the Surfing Nations folders labeled alphabetically

-Find the New Zealand Folder and double-click it to zoom in on your country

Additionally if you have previous GE WSR files loaded uncheck them/delete them to make sure "Nominated_World_Surfing_Reserves.kmz" is the only file on your GE map.

Whale of a Day

Today I was all set to get stuck into the mountain of phoamwork that had been piling up over the last few weeks. But a text from Jay at 10am 'two whales off the domain', me and Caity jumped in the car (she now has her restricted!) and we set off. We didn't get back home till 3pm.
Top pic: supa clean lines rolled through while in the distance (the white dot below the actual closeup)a whale breaches. Below, sequence from the same spot and distance. can't believe how good my trusty old 100-400 performs sometimes even though the inner lenses are full of dust.


Above: A local family watch out at the whales as the back reef fires away.
Below left: local kids take the grandstand view off Barneys Island watching the whales, and the surfers at Below right and Below.


Yesterday, blog reader Finny sent me the images below he took of whales off the coast at Tomahawk. Not sure if it was the same pair.

Likelihood of tsunami impossible to predict

From the Otago Daily Times By Debbie Porteous on Sat, 3 Oct 2009

Tsunami warnings
> Civil defence organisers are reliant on wave gauges in the Pacific Ocean.

> The closest to New Zealand is near Raoul Island, 1100km northeast of the North Island.

> Information from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii is also received.

> Otago's largest tsunami threat is from the Puysegur Fault, southwest of the South Island.

> In the event of an earthquake, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issues an alert informing authorities of the magnitude and depth of the quake.

> Local authorities decide how to react, based on that information.

So many factors determine whether an earthquake will cause a tsunami even scientists cannot predict with any certainty if one will be generated and what impact it will have, a Dunedin civil defence spokesman says.

Dunedin City Council civil defence training officer Glenn Mitchell said if a tsunami was generated by an earthquake at the Puysegur Fault, southwest of the South Island, authorities would have about three hours to warn people to move to higher ground.

The fact the fault has significant tsunami implications for the Otago coast, especially the southern part, was first noted in a 2008 Niwa report commissioned by the Otago Regional Council.

It was previously thought the worst danger came from earthquakes off South America, but for the first time the research showed the Otago coast would be more inundated by a tsunami from the south. Results showed an earthquake of magnitude 8.5 at the Puysegur Fault would generate waves of 2m-4m along coastal areas from the Catlins to Oamaru and could produce waves for eight hours. Such an event was predicted to occur every 600 years. An earthquake at the fault would to have to be at least magnitude 7.8 to generate a tsunami of note. There was no evidence of a tsunami generated from this fault in historical records. Tsunamis generated from South America could still cause less, although still significant, inundation, but were more common, occurring once every 100 years on average.

The coast north of the Otago Peninsula was more likely to hit by a tsunami from South America, which could still be around 3m high, despite travelling so far. For that to happen, the outgoing wave from the earthquake would have to be pointed directly at the Otago coast. Three tsunamis recorded in New Zealand have been generated by Chilean earthquakes. In any future tsunami, the amount of inundation and the speed of the water as it hit land would probably be affected by rising sea levels and erosion of the coast, the report said.

At the Dunedin civil defence headquarters, this new information about the Puysegur Fault had not led to any changes to monitoring or response processes, just raised awareness that the risk existed, Mr Mitchell said. The response to a tsunami warning would remain the same, with information broadcast on local radio networks and distributed to other media outlets as quickly as possible. Civil defence would then organise warning sirens to be sounded in areas likely to be affected as a signal to people to listen to their radios for information. Whether or not that happened depended on several factors, including where the tsunami was generated, which would give an indication of how much time there was to take action.

In the (even rarer) event an earthquake at the Akatore fault, which runs along Otago's coast, triggered a tsunami, there would be virtually no time for any warning.

While council civil defence staff spoke to media during this week's Pacific plate tsunami alert, no media releases were distributed, a situation Mr Mitchell admitted authorities "could have handled better". In this case, the decision was that by 9am the threat had all but disappeared and so no media releases were required, although civil defence continued to monitor the situation, he said.

Updated information had been available on the council website, as it would be during any civil emergency. In the situation of an actual threat, media releases would likely be made available at the same time radio stations were asked to begin playing instructions. "Basically, if you are not hearing any information, then there are no concerns."

Gauging the impact of a tsunami was complicated, involving so many factors, including tidal situation, time of day, the depth and magnitude of the quake, even geological scientists could not make accurate predictions, Mr Mitchell said.

Acting Prime Minister Bill English this week said the Government was "generally happy" with the response of New Zealand Civil Defence to Wednesday's tsunami warning, although there would be a inquiry into why there was some confusion.

A number of vital agencies received confused warnings or no information at all from the Ministry of Civil Defence immediately after the Samoan earthquake and subsequent tsunami, NZPA reported.

It was better if there was no confusion, although Mr English said he was surprised people went to beaches after warnings were issued, meaning staff had to be deployed to get them to go home. The emergency response body has been criticised for not advising local media and Wellington airport what was happening with regard to tsunami warnings on Wednesday.

Civil Defence issued a tsunami warning about an hour after the magnitude 8 quake off Samoa, which hit at 6.48am. It downgraded it to a threat advisory shortly after 11am. Civil Defence Minister John Carter said it was largely up to civil defence controllers in the regions to set up and manage warnings in their areas.

Civil defence systems were continually improving, he said. "It's an imprecise art. It's an act of nature and we do our best, obviously not good enough, and we will be responding to it," Mr Carter said. I think Civil Defence weren't as helpful as they could have been in communicating with the media in the early stages."

350 surfers paddle out St Clair

Come together and band arms against climate change

The aim of the paddle out is to connect the broader surfing community, spread awareness and build momentum to combat climate change.

Swell permitting, the paddle out is planned to take place at 9am on Saturday the 24th of October at St Clair. If the waves are rather solid or wild, we plan to relocate to the harbour, or a more sheltered beach nearby.

Date:	Saturday, October 24, 2009
Time:	9:00am - 10:00am
Location:	St Clair
Street:	Esplanade
City:	Dunedin, New Zealand

For more info please feel free to contact Leroy Rust at rust.leroy@gmail.com
Join his facebook page at: 350 surfers paddle out

Beaches set for protected status

ODT 15th July 2009 by Chris Morris
Beaches set for protected status
Eleven of Dunedin's coastal reserves look set to be given new protected status, at the expense of some recreational rights, in an effort to protect vulnerable sand dune systems.

Under the Reserves Act 1977, local authorities were required to classify the primary use of the reserves they owned. read the rest here

• Kuri Beach (two areas on coastal side of Taieri Mouth Rd)
• Brighton (coastal side of Brighton Rd)
• Ocean View (coastal side of Brighton Rd)
• Island Park
• Ocean Grove (coastal side of Tomahawk)
• Te Rauone
• Long Beach
• Warrington
• Karitane
• Waikouaiti (in the vicinity of Matanaka Dr)

The changes would become part of the council's draft Coastal Dune Reserves Management Plan, due to be released for public consultation in October.

Hi from the Taranaki

Pretty stoked to now be part of the crew at

As a new committee member representing the South Island

For now I am sitting in an internet cafe, pissing down outside, waiting for it to clear so I can walk back to the backpackers.
Hoping to make it to the Surf Film festival showing New Plymouth tonight at Breakers Cafe, if it stops raining.

Homa on the Meyerhoffer

I had these shots set aside for something else, but it didn't happen.
All pics of Homa at the Oneill Cold Water Classic this year, surfing in a comp on a Meyerhoffer for the first time in NZ.

Great article here about the Meyerhoffer, read up.
In a marriage of opposites, nimble designer-surfer Thomas Meyerhoffer of Montara has joined forces with distribution and manufacturing powerhouse Global Surf Industries (GSI) to unleash his latest design breakthrough on the surfing world:

"The “Modern Meyerhoffer” was sculpted around the principle that longboarders turn off the tail and noseride up front, with the middle of the board an excessive transition zone in between that could be reduced. Accordingly, the board has a relatively traditional nose up front, leading to a tapered waist in the middle, a dynamic, wider rear end and elongated tail for stability and drive. This gives the Meyerhoffer its distinctive organic “parabolic” shape. Meyerhoffer is quick to point out that “the negative curve is only there so that I could shape a more positive curve … as on a surfboard you turn around the positive curve.”